Hotels: Predictions & Reflections, Part 2
Google's ITA purchase, Apple's patent filing, Expedia and Mobiata - expect these three developments to shape the future for hospitality.Sascha Hausmann, CEO, eRevMax/RateTigerQ: What are the three things you think will happen in the hotel space in 2011?• Mobile will mature and become even more imp [...]
I can’t get no instant satisfaction; yet it’s possible
I was having lunch the other day with a hotelier who asked me, when was the last time a hotel swept you off your feet? Fortunately, I didn’t have to think too hard because the experience had only happened in January.It was at the Park Hyatt Dubai (left) when the IT manager came to fix my problem w [...]
In two decades, China will be biggest travel force
Over the next two decades the makeup of tourism around the world will change significantly with China emerging as a leading force in both inbound and outbound.Speaking at the 18th World Travel Monitor Forum in Pisa, Professor Haivan Song of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University said: “By 2030 China [...]
It happened: Tony Fernandes, Forbes Asia’s Businessman of the Year
After the big success that AirAsia has been having in the last few years, it was just a matter of time for this to happen: AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes has been named Forbes Asia’s Businessman of the Year. Fernandes is the first Malaysian and South-east Asian to receive the award. The hugel [...]
It’s certified, I am an Airhead
Ok I cracked. I broke my first New Year’s resolution within three days. A record even for me. I bought the Mac Air. Super fast. Awesome light. Sexy as hell. For some reason, it makes me think of Cher but more of her later.So the first question I am asked now is, what about your iPad? Wasn’t it m [...]
ITB Asia Speakers Corner: Stone on sales and why it’s needed now more than ever
Ray Stone, senior advisor, sales & marketing, Accor Asia Pacific, who will be speaking at the WIT Ideas Lab at ITB Asia on October 21, shares lessons he’s learnt from his long career in hotel sales and marketing.Q: You started in airlines, then you moved to hotels and there you stayed. What� [...]
ITB’s new identity for 2011 set to inspire
ITB Asia launches a new inspirational identity for 2011 with the tagline, “Truly Inspiring”. All branding for the event will feature this tagline accompanied by a smiling woman with Asian travel icons, such as the Great Wall and Taj Mahal, woven into her hair.A similar visual identity has been s [...]
Krabi for a day
My friend Doug from Vancouver was in Thailand for nearly 3 weeks, and wouldn't you know it that his schedule was completely clashing with mine. So the only way to really catch-up was to meet in Krabi for 24 hours. Better than nothing, right?So I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste, two T-shirts [...]
Wego goes local quirky in video commercials in Indonesia
It being 1.45am in the morning and nothing else to do but to go to bed, I decided to watch Wego’s new commercials on YouTube – six of them back-to-back takes 2 mins 15 seconds, I had been told by CEO Ross Veitch.It’s the first of a series of television and YouTube commercials the travel search [...]
Burning Man – a personal experience, Part Two
So where were we? – Edward and I. (Part One here if you missed it) We’d turned off the two-lane blacktop and were heading down one of the six lanes constructed on the playa towards the entrance of Burning Man (BM). The sight of our first Mutant Vehicle had had us laughing and we were on [...]
